What does looper ending mean

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Monitor Daily. Photo Galleries. About Us. Get stories that empower and uplift daily. See our other FREE newsletters. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy. Select free newsletters: The Weekender. Today's Highlights. He has ensured that the woman he would come to love as Old Joe will no longer die at the hands of the syndicate. He has ensured that the Rainmaker will no longer rise and begin taking over all of organized crime, likely saving even more lives.

Or has he? Yes, Joe changed the future when he killed himself, and anyone who directly died because of Old Joe's actions is now spared In its own way, Joe's death creates another timeline filled with a different kind of uncertainty. Yes, his wife lives now, but what other dangers await her? Yes, Sara lives now, but does that mean she'll be spared from ever suffering or dying again? Yes, Cid gets to be cared for by his mother, but does that mean he'll always be free from trauma that will push him to do evil?

Joe is, after all, just one man. Looper is a science fiction film , and specifically a time travel film, but there are big ideas at play beyond time machines and alternate timelines and futuristic assassins trying to reconcile their pasts and futures. According to director Rian Johnson, the central concern of the story for him was "the power of a parent's love," and indeed it's Sara's love for Cid and how Joe perceives it which sets off the film's endgame, and the timeline-altering decision that Joe makes to save Cid.

Thematically, Looper is a story about learning what's really worth saving, and we get to see that through the arc of both Joes. Joe begins as a guy who doesn't seem to care about much other than his own eventual freedom, and grows to understand that there are bigger concerns than his own life, including Cid's future, Sara's love for her son, and the greater future with or without the Rainmaker.

Old Joe lived as an assassin and an addict, then came to understand that the love of his wife was more powerful than any of that, so much so that he was willing to fight beyond his own lifespan to save her. Joe's ultimate sacrifice is his realization that his own concerns are minimal compared to those around him, and the implications of what might happen if he doesn't take drastic action are worth the sacrifice.

This thematic thread, helped along by Joe's final narration, is the perfect dramatic cap to the film's arc. Even with the limited scope of the story — there are only four main characters, and two of them are the same guy — Looper is a very complex movie simply because it deals with time travel in such an intense way.

The film really gets its hands dirty with the concept, telling us a story of men from the past who change the future with the pull of a trigger, and even cut off their own timelines for money. That means there are a lot of loose ends to ponder in the film If it's important to you to really justify that beyond 'It makes sense in a story type way,' you'll have to get into multiple time lines existing in neverending loops of logic.

You can shoehorn it into making sense," Johnson explained. Looper was one of a number of films released in the late s and early s that helped change the face of modern science fiction filmmaking not because of its story, but because of its eventual business success. Soon, Johnson joined the Star Wars franchise, and from that collaboration we eventually got The Last Jedi , along with a still-developing all-new trilogy of films set within that saga's overall galaxy.

Filmmakers who found similar success with mid-budget films in the same era have also moved on to bigger things. Granted, he expected to be killed eventually because his loop closed, but he didn't think his wife would be lost in the process. Desperate to prevent the only person he ever loved from meeting her cruel fate, he overpowered his kidnappers and went back 30 years to kill the Rainmaker as a child, time travel repercussions be damned.

Old Joe successfully arrived back in the present time period, and after doing his best to make sure his younger self wouldn't interfere, he set out to kill all the children in that city with the Rainmaker's birthday to cover his bases. Meanwhile, young Joe, having seized a portion of Old Joe's map, traveled to the farm where Cid, the young Rainmaker, was being raised by his mother, Sara played by Emily Blunt.

This explains how he's able to wipe out all his competition in the future; he just tears them apart with his mind. Eventually Old Joe made his way to the farm, and Young Joe and Sara did their best to protect Cid, whose jaw is grazed by a bullet during the attack. This struggle culminates with Sara willing to sacrifice herself so her son can escape and Young Joe desperately trying to stop his older self, but unable to get close enough due to his injured leg.

He also saw in his mind that Sara dying would set Cid on a path of angriness and loneliness. The Rainmaker's path, a circle going round and round. Left with no other choice, Young Joe shot himself with his blunderbuss, thereby wiping Old Joe from existence and saving both Sara and Cid.

Since all the members of Abe's played by Jeff Daniels gang were also eliminated by Old Joe, that means that the mother and her son will get to live their lives in peace without any fear of retribution.

The key to Young Joe's success is keeping Sara alive. When Old Joe and Young Joe were chatting at the diner, the former spouts off some rumors he's heard about the Rainmaker, one of them being that the criminal powerhouse watched his mother get shot. This was presumably the inciting event that led him to the dark side.

Remember, even with Sara's parenting, there were times when Cid lost control of his power. Without her love and education giving him stability, he would have nothing reining him in, and he would become that feared criminal in the future. Fortunately, Young Joe made the ultimate sacrifice, which, as he put it, broke the cycle, That, along with Old Joe gunning down Abe's gang, means ideally, Sara and Cid will live out their lives in peace.

Sara can continue taking care of Cid, making sure he keeps his telekinetic powers under control. It won't be easy. Cid will probably still have the occasional tantrum, requiring Sara to hide in her closet vault until he calms down.

Fortunately, Sara is determined to make sure he has a better childhood than she did, and now she has extra incentive to keep this up since she knows what will happen 30 years from now if he doesn't have the proper guidance.

Oh, and he'll also keep learning about math, literature, science and all the skills that a well-functioning adult should have at least a basic grasp on. It's the telekinesis control that's the priority, though. As its title suggests, the film is filled with many time-traveling loops that require a lot of attention and thinking to keep up with all the moving variables. So… consider yourself warned! As a looper, he primarily disposes of victims who have been sent back in time by the same crime syndicate from Joe is very good at his job and has built up quite a stockpile of silver bars which he spends on women and drugs.

This old Joe played by Bruce Willis attacks young Joe and escapes. The two eventually meet, and old Joe tells young Joe about a future mob kingpin called the Rainmaker. Young Joe and old Joe tussle, and young Joe ends up with the map which he eventually uses to find his way to a farmhouse, where he meets Sara and her young son Cid. Sara reveals that Cid has extremely strong telekinetic powers, and young Joe deduces that he will one day ultimately become the Rainmaker.

Meanwhile, old Joe is captured by the mob but breaks free and meets young Joe at the farm. In the climactic finale, old Joe confronts Sara and the young Cid, meaning to kill the boy.